HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - If your morning commute includes Gate 9 at Redstone Arsenal, changes are coming. A new traffic light will be added southbound of the Gate 9 entrance to ease travel, and progress is being made on the new Gate 9 entrance.
In the most immediate future, traffic patterns will change by the newly installed traffic light.
Operational as of April 2 -- it will be placed just south of the new Gate 9 location, according to Garrison Commander Colonel Thomas Holliday.
"What that's designed for is to allow traffic to come through the gate, get onto the Arsenal before they make a turn on to Goss Road," said Colonel Holliday. "In the past, that wasn't an issue because Goss was south of the gate. Now it's actually going to be north of the gate."
About a quarter mile from the new Gate 9 location, you'll find the newly installed traffic light to allow for a u-turn and then a right-hand turn on to Goss Road.
Next, Colonel Holliday says the future Gate 9 location is coming along and on schedule. It's expected to open in July and won't necessarily change the time it takes to get on the Arsenal.
"But it will change the distance as we start having the normal traffic back up, so we don't back up into the high-speed traffic on 565," said Colonel Holliday. "So it makes it safer, but it does not change the time."
Colonel Holliday adds in the future, there may be an opportunity to add more lanes to Gate 9 to reduce the time and backup.
One other project outside of Gate 9 -- Redstone Road if you use Gate 3. Redstone Road is currently three lanes, one lane inbound, one lane outbound and an interchangeable lane that officials change based on the time of the day.
Colonel Holliday said they've determined that's not the safest mode of transportation. So they are going to take the middle lane and turn it into a dedicated turn lane. Then, it will turn into one inbound, one outbound and then a turning lane for where you need to turn on the side roads.